Minus

Somewhere along the way musicians stopped living the rock n roll lifestyle and started it seeing it as a career option. Minus hark back to the days of Led Zeppelin and Guns N Roses. A 24/7 lifestyle of rock n roll hedonism that would turn our British stars queasy at the very thought. Designer Magazine caught up with the band for 2 dates on the Amen tour and struggled to keep up with them.

Q: You've come over to the UK a few times before, but this is the first real big tour you've been pushing and promoting the Minus sound. How have the Amen fans been reacting to you?
Krummi: Amen are just a great bunch of people and we're so glad to be on the tour. It takes time to get the fans on your wavelength cos they're coming to see Amen of course, but there's a variety of music before hand

Frosti: We've been blowing Ikara Cult offstage every night, apart from last night which was f**king shit. Are bassist broke one of his strings and the crew from Amen had hidden all of spare guitars and equipment so Johnny was running round looking for a spare - nobody thought to tell us they'd put all our equipment away in this closet. 7 minutes we were on stage apologizing and not being able to do anything. It was the worst moment in the history of Minus!!!
 

Q: We've seen you twice now on this tour and you're one of the few bands we've seen opening that really take control and don't actually seem like an opening band.
Krummi: We've been playing together for 6 years now. Bands should play with all the passion in the world...

Frosti: ...were not going to pretend were the opening band just cos we are the opening band

Krummi: The only difference between these shows and our own shows is that we haven't had our light show here. All we've had to use to draw the audience in is our bodies. People can see we're really into the music by the way we move, if we're not getting into it on stage how is anyone else expected to. The live shows are supposed to be a celebration of music.
 

Q: I guess that goes back to the fact as well that Minus aren't a traditional metal band. You're harking back to the rock n roll traditions of Led Zeppelin
Krummi: We all grew up on Guns N Roses and Led Zeppelin. People say they see a bit of Led Zep in us, but we're just doing what comes naturally. We're honoured if people compare us to those bands, but its not a conscious thing

Frosti: It's sad how the English regard the way rock bands are supposed to be. Most of the rock bands in England are put together by Simon Cowell. They're like boy bands most of the time, real goody two shoes.

Krummi: The decadence of rock n roll is gone. We're from Iceland and we've come to reinvent the rock n roll
 

Q: Back home in Iceland are there a group of bands trying to bring back that spirit?
Frosti: The market is not that big back home for rock bands. We're the biggest rock n roll band over there, we're selling out venues this size

Krummi: Were one of the few bands from Iceland that have been able to go outside Iceland and release records and tour in other countries. We've been aiming at that since we started this band. It takes hard work to do that but it's a passion, all we want to do is create music and art and play live to people. Other bands aren't as ambitious as we're hoping to be.

Q: But you didn't just get into it for the music, the lifestyle plays a big part of it as well
Krummi: The lifestyles a big part of the music, especially in this band. Nowadays people don't expect rock bands to act like rock bands...they just expect the same old goody two shoes rock bands. They're faking it on-stage and offstage they're professional nice guys. There's no magic going on - you can't be rock n roll on-stage and not offstage.

We've been on tour before with bands that are just boring, it's ok to be nice guys but when it crosses over onto boring you're lost. They just fake it. Imagine if Guns N Roses acted offstage like the Partridge family and were like "Ok, give me a cup of tea please". Amen wanted us to come on tour because we have that same rock n roll decadence. We do what we wanna do when we wanna do it and they do the same. We just don't care. Being an artist in a rock n roll band is about living the lifestyle. At the moment we've got no money, we're broke, imagine how the decadence will be when we get some f**king money!!!
 

Q: At the moment people have just seen this Icelandic band Minus on tour with Amen and they don't know much about you. What's the ideology or ethos behind Minus?
Krummi: We're about music and living in high spirits and creating art. Really enjoying and celebrating life to the fullest. Art is about freedom of speech and it's not about pandering to people because you might offend the English or someone in the industry. You've got to live the life you live without asking for permission. Too many bands or artists have lost that.
 

Q: We've got the single out "Romantic Exorcism". Tell the readers what it's about?
Krummi: It's about trying to convince yourself that you're not in love and you do not believe in love but everybody will get the chance to know love and go through love. Romantic exorcism is trying to convince yourself you're not in love. It's not working though however much I say I don't have time for love.
 

Q: There's a love and dedication in the band, there's a set of matching Minus tattoos that the whole band has isn't there?
Krummi: Well me and my brother Johnny have our names tattooed on our chest and our sister has them as well, there's a theme going on. But the band have joint tattoos and it's one of the aspects we really like, it shows how dedicated we are by showing a stand for something we believe in. I believe my bodies a map and it is going to be covered at one point, but its going to be completely random - i'm not gonna have a sleeve like they do in America with a fish jumping out or anything.

Every period  i've had in my life i've had a tattoo to celebrate that moment whether it's been negative or optimistic. I got my first tattoo when I was 16 and now i'm 24 so it's took 8 years to get to the stage i am right now.

Frosti: (Pulls down lip to show Minus tattoo) Were roamers always in a foreign country so it's just the 5 of us. We're always a gang, f**k with us and we'll kill you!!! We'll f**k you up so bad that you're mother won't recognize you.
 

Q: You do realize you're in Manchester now, this ain't some southern poncey city
Frosti: Last time we were here Johnny broke someone's face in. Johnny took like a hooligan lord and kicked the shit out of him. We're not into violence, but if we're in trouble we'll f**k you up. When we have to protect ourselves we can be f**king hooligans you know. You've gotta know, we're vikings, if you push it too far we will kill you. We will fight to the death!!!

And at that moment we thought it was time to go